Wednesday, June 5, 2013

From Legal Times Blog

Lawyers for detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention center argued today in court that a new policy requiring genital searches of their clients before meetings and phone calls was degrading and part of an attempt to discourage communication with counsel.

U.S. District Chief Judge Royce Lamberth heard argument today on emergency motions filed by the detainees' lawyers to block the new search policy, which also applied to detainees' phone calls with family. Covington & Burling senior counsel S. William Livingston called the policy a situation "where something that isn't broken is being fixed." Much of the 90-minute hearing was sealed.

Lamberth did not rule from the bench and did not give any indication on how he might rule during the public portion of the hearing. The judge previously has struck down attempts by the federal government to change policies governing access to counsel at the detention facility.

The government, Livingston said, hadn't specified why it adopted the new search policy, but he believed it was punishment for a prisoner hunger strike. In the past, he said, officials found other ways to search for contraband, recognizing genital searches were invasive and could represent a violation of detainees' religious beliefs.

Livingston said two client phone calls were recently cancelled and he believed it was because of the new search policy. Given the amount of supervision the detainees are already subject to and the searches lawyers have to undergo to meet with their clients, he said there was no justification for the change; he argued it was especially unnecessary for phone calls. He added that the government had never suggested the detainees' lawyers were a source of contraband.

"This is not the Baltimore City jail," he said, a reference to recent reports of prisoners at that facility receiving contraband. "This is a hermetically sealed environment."

Brent Rushforth of McKool Smith, another lawyer for detainees, read excerpts from letters he received from his clients explaining that they could no longer meet because they did want to go through the "humanly degrading" search, calling it a "horrible development." Rushforth said he had plans to travel to the facility next week, but would be forced to cancel unless Lamberth intervened.

The government did not respond to the detainees’ lawyers until after Lamberth closed the courtroom. In sealing the proceedings, Lamberth explained the government responses would involve information about the detention facility covered by a protective order. After the hearing, U.S. Department of Justice lawyer Ronald Wiltsie declined to comment on the sealed proceedings, which lasted about an hour.

Lawyers for the detainees also declined to talk about what was discussed. Lamberth did not say when he planned to issue a ruling.

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ONE NATION....UNDER SURVEILLANC

NO PLACE TO HIDE

Probably the most important book of 2014 as it gives a comprehensive look at the extent this country of mine has creeped into the bedrooms of all of us across the world-and the importance of hero EDWARD SNOWDEN- in risking his freedom to let all of us know. What we do with that knowledge will say alot about all of us...

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Ron Suskind's "The Way of the World"

If you have not read Ron's book then you do not have the whole story about what I have been doing to try to get my clients out ofGuantanamo. Ron kept up with my activities and even followed me around on occasion to get the full story... then he weaved my story in with the stories of other individuals who are concerned with the direction of the United States. I recommend the book to all of you out there who also care about the direction that the US has gone these past eight years and want to work to change things.